Huddersfield will go into their Challenge Cup semi-final against Leeds buoyed by successive wins after a battling victory over Castleford this afternoon.

Having come from behind against Wakefield to end a run of four straight engage Super League defeats last week, the Giants again needed to dig deep to see off the battling Tigers.

Brad Drew, Kevin Brown, Andy Raleigh, Jim Gannon, Chris Nero and Martin Aspinwall all crossed for the Giants on an eventful afternoon at the Galpharm Stadium, which saw Castleford's Danny Brough sent off.

The game proved a baptism of fire for rookie referee Jamie Leahy, who was controlling his first Super League match.

Brough was dismissed for reacting angrily to be being sin-binned late in the game while there were also a number of calls which infuriated the home side.

The action had started well with Michael Shenton brilliantly flicking the ball wide for Adam Fletcher to claim the opening try for Castleford - the unlikely play-off contenders - after just three minutes.

The winger could have had a second five minutes later but he brushed the touchline after appearing to take Danny Sculthorpe's fine long pass in his stride.

Huddersfield responded with Stuart Jones breaking through the Cas line to send Drew over for a try Michael De Vere converted.

The visitors regained the lead as scrum-half Brough kicked through for Deon Bird to touch down.

Brough added the extras but Huddersfield went in 12-10 ahead at the break as Chris Thorman's well-weighted deep kick sat up nicely for on-loan Wigan centre Brown to race onto. De Vere again converted.

The four tries, however, were far from the whole story of the first half as Leahy found himself at the centre of controversy.

Leahy angered the Giants when pulled play back for offside and denied Robbie Paul an advantage that could have yielded a try.

That came after he had only placed Sculthorpe on report for a high tackle on Stuart Donlan and more controversy followed as Richard Fa'aoso escaped punishment for a head shot on full-back Paul Reilly.

Reilly left the field with a bloodied face and did not return until late in the game.

Danny Nutley was then harshly penalised for a high tackle in the last minute of the half but De Vere put his goal attempt wide.

Huddersfield were awarded another penalty early in the second half but this time chose to run it and were rewarded as Raleigh powered over from the quick tap.

The Giants then took a firm grip on the game as Gannon pierced the line to score under the posts. De Vere's conversions gave the hosts a healthy 24-10 lead.

Tempers again started to fray in the final quarter and Brough was shown the yellow card for dissent.

His aggressive response towards Leahy immediately led to the red one being produced.

Huddersfield took advantage of their extra man and made the game safe with a Nero try seven minutes from time.

Aspinwall then broke from his own half to touch down in the last minute with a bandaged Reilly completing the scoring with the conversion.